Relates to returnable beverage containers; repealer

Section 2 of this bill would amend Environmental Conservation Law (ECL) § 27-1007(1), (4) and (6), and the opening paragraph of ECL § 2 7-1007(2), to: (1) reduce, from 60 days to 30 days, the length of time for which legal scrip received for redeemed beverage container s may be exchanged; (2) add a process through which a dealer may apply for, and the Department of Environmental Conservation may approve, a waiver of the on-premises requirements for reverse vending machines (RVMs) applicable to certain businesses; (3) maintain the current handling fee for beverage containers at 2 cents until October 1, 2009, and thereafter provide for a handling fee of 3.5 cents for redemption centers, dealers licensed pursuant to section 53 of the Alcohol Beverage Control Law and other dealers whose place of business is less than 10,000 square feet, and 2.5 cents for dealers whose place of business is 10,000 square feet or more; and (4) make technical corrections to Chapter 59 and the Returnable Container Act as amended by Chapter 59.

Section 3 of this bill would amend ECL § 27-1011 (1) to require that every beverage container sold in the State bear a universal product code (UPC) beginning October 1, 2009, and to permit the use of embossed or printed labels until October 1, 2009 for private label beverage containers.

Section 4 of this bill would repeal ECL § 27-1012(12), which requires a New York State specific UPC.

Section 5 of this bill would amend ECL § 27-1012(7)(a) to clarify when various deposit initiators must register with the Department of Taxation and Finance, and to extend by one month the date by which deposit initiators of new beverage containers must register.

Section 6 of this bill provides that the bill would take effect immediately, provided that the amendments to Chapter 59 made by Section 1 of this bill and to ECL .. 27-1011 and 271012 by Sections 3 and 5 of this bill shall be deemed to have been in full force and effect on and after April 1, 2009; and that the amendments to ECL § 27-1007 made by Section 2 of this bill would take effect on the same date and in the same manner as Section 4 of Part SS of Chapter 59, as amended, takes effect.

Existing law

Title 10 of Article 27 of the ECL contains the Returnable Container Act, as amended by Chapter 59.

Legislative history

This is a new bill.

Statement in support

The Returnable Container Act was amended earlier this year by Chapter 59 to add water bottles to the list of beverage containers which must have a five-cent redemption value, and to make a number of other programmatic changes to the underlying beverage container recycling program.

This bill would make a variety of amendments to Chapter 59 and the amended Returnable Container Act for the purpose of facilitating more effective implementation of the amended Returnable Container Act. For example, this bill would:

* Provide one additional month for bottlers to come into compliance with the revised law, in particular as relates to the labeling of specified water products.1 * Repeal the requirement for a New York State-specific UPC code, which many bottlers have asserted will create production, distribution and storage challenges. * Establish a waiver process from the requirements of the bill specifying the number of RVMs that relatively large businesses must have on premises, to ensure that businesses that sell small amounts of covered beverages, or use very efficient RVMs, are not unreasonably burdened by the RVM requirement. * Limit the opportunity for fraud, by providing for expiration after 30 days of scrip received in exchange for the redeemed beverage containers. * As of October 1, 2009, implement a bifurcated handling fee structure which provides for increased handling fees for beverage containers.

Finally, this bill would make a number of technical corrections to the Returnable Container Act as amended by Chapter 59.

Budget implications

This bill may reduce the amount of funds that would otherwise be·available to the State from the collection of unclaimed deposits on water bottles.

Effective date

This bill would take effect immediately, provided, however, the amendments to Chapter 59 made by Section 1 of this bill and to ECL § § 27-1011 and 27-1012 by Sections 3 and 5 of this bill are be deemed to have been in full force and effect on and after April 1, 2009; and the amendments to ECL § 27-1007 made by Section 2 of this bill would take effect on the same date and in the same manner as Sect ion 4 of Part SS of Chapter 59, as amended, takes effect. 1 This bill preserves the exemption from the Returnable Container Act for water beverages containing sugar. This exemption was created to mitigate impacts from vermin which are attracted to sugar residues in returned beverage containers while such containers are stored at retail businesses and elsewhere.